page_title: El Junquito raid
section_title: Operation
hierarchical_section_title: El Junquito raid / Operation
caption_attribution_description: English: BTR-80A in Caracas, Venezuela on 5 March 2014 during the commemoration of Hugo Chavez's death.
context_page_description: The El Junquito raid, whose official codename was Operation Gideon also referred to as El Junquito massacre, was a police and military raid that occurred on 15 January 2018 in El Junquito, Capital District, Venezuela, which resulted in the death of rebel Óscar Alberto Pérez and members of his movement.
context_section_description: On 15 January 2018, the Venezuelan Army and the Venezuelan National Guard launched an operation after discovering the location of Pérez, who was held up in the El Junquito parish of Capital District. Around 4:00 AM VST (8:00 AM UTC), about 500 troops were deployed to attack Pérez and his compatriots at their location. Around 6:45 AM VST (10:45 AM UTC), Pérez released video stating that his group had been fired upon, though he mentioned that negotiations were underway.
  By about 8:30 AM VST (12:30 PM UTC), a firefight between the two factions ensued. Pérez and his team initially resisted the attack, though once he realized they were surrounded, Pérez attempted to surrender in order to spare the lives of the rebels as well as the family living in the home. Around 9:07 AM VST (1:07 PM UTC), troops began to fire rocket-propelled grenades at the group's location. Pérez then posted a video on the internet showing his face covered in blood stating that the police had not stopped attacking his group with snipers, grenades, grenade launchers and rocket-propelled grenades, with Pérez and others saying that authorities were only there on orders to kill them. During the raid, Pérez contacted several people on his phone, calling his former boss at CICPC pleading that he send staff of the attorney general and the media to provide coverage of the raid and to grant him a route for a safe surrender. Finally, a Russian-made BTR-80A was deployed to the area and arrived to the site around 11:45 VST (3:45 PM UTC), where it proceeded to fire at the rebel location.
  After hours of shooting, Pérez's group succumbed to the Venezuelan forces around 12:00 PM VST (4:00 PM UTC), with members of the group likely being executed by troops according to Bellingcat and Forensic Architecture. Pérez and five of his men (Daniel Enrique Soto Torres, Abraham Lugo Ramos, Jairo Lugo Ramos, José Alejandro Díaz Pimentel, Abraham Israel Agostini) were shot dead while six others were arrested. His death was confirmed by the Venezuelan Police one day later. Pérez was reportedly observed in the morgue with three bullet wounds to the head, with official death certificates showing a similar pattern of shots to the head among his fallen rebels. Two days later, it was revealed that a pregnant woman and a child were also killed during the raid.
  The police and the Colectivos also suffered losses, with two officers killed and five injured while one member of a colectivo from 23 de Enero was killed. The raid was described as highly unorganized, with Venezuelan troops being observed laughing and firing indiscriminately towards Pérez's, possibly causing friendly fire incidents. Evidence was never revealed by the Venezuelan Government and the home where the rebels were discovered was quickly destroyed.
caption: BTR-80As similar to the one used during the operation
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